In the Name of Love
by StarDreams15
Summary: Holmes is acting strangly, and even declared a case 'impossible to solve.' When Lestrade examines the crime scenes closer, she finds that all evidence leads to Holmes. Can Lestrade figure out this mystery before it's too late?
1. A Case to Solve

Lestrade's face appeared suddenly on Holmes' vid-phone. "Holmes, we have a case. Come right over. I'm sending the address to you as we speak."  
"Hello to you, too, Lestrade. How are you today?" Holmes  
answered; pretending like Lestrade had just called him with a  
formal 'hi'.  
"Cut the chit-chat, Holmes. This is urgent! The Jewelry Is Me  
store has just been robbed, and there is no clue whatsoever!"  
Holmes lifted an eyebrow at his supervising officer. "There are  
always clues, Lestrade. Some not as obvious as others, but clues  
all the same."  
"Not in this case, there's not! Not even a DNA trace! How the  
heck did he fool the DNA scans?? We are dealing with a master  
criminal here, Holmes."  
"There are ways to fool DNA scans. Remember Dr. Blessington's  
peculiar device? And Fenwick's suit made of that special  
material in the Musgrave case? DNA is not as reliable as you  
think, Lestrade."  
Lestrade sighed. "Okay, fine, he could fool the DNA scans. But  
there still isn't any other clue out there. Just come by and  
take a look, will you?"  
Holmes smiled and took a brief look at the address he had  
finally received. "I'm on my way." Holmes pressed a small  
button, and the screen went blank. Holmes called over his  
shoulder to Watson. "Watson, do you think you could give me a  
ride downtown to this jewelry store?"  
Watson came in with baking soda in his hand. "I'd be delighted  
to, Holmes!"  
"Thank you, Watson." Holmes grabbed his deerstalker and  
Inverness from the rack by the door and swiftly walked out of  
the house. During the whole ride there, though, he seemed  
distracted. Holmes only gave a simple 'Mmm' in response to any  
of Watson's sayings, and had a faraway look in his eye. He  
definitely was deep in thought. "What the devil could he be  
thinking?" Watson wondered to himself.  
When Holmes was exiting the hover car, Watson heard him mumble,  
"What if she finds out? Do I tell her?" Utterly confused (used  
as he was to Holmes' strange ways) Watson drove away, trying to  
figure out Holmes' sudden strange behavior. 


	2. Unsolvable

"I don't know, Lestrade!" Holmes got up from the ground after inspecting the jewelry store for any clues. "You were right, Lestrade. There is no clue at all. This case is insoluble!"  
Lestrade gasped at her partner. "But... But... There must be  
something!! Tell me how fast he was walking. How tall is he? At  
least tell me what time he was here!" As much as she loved being  
right about there being no clue, she hated to hear Holmes say  
that. She had expected him to come here, find at least five  
clues that she had over looked, give her a lecture on 'eyes and  
brains', and walk swiftly away to track down the criminal. But  
instead, he had declared her right and the case unsolvable. For  
some reason, this hurt Lestrade, though she had no idea why.  
"C'mon, Holmes! Give me the time, at least!!"  
Holmes shook his head. He would love to tell her that the  
criminal was here at 2:21 am, has messy blond hair, blue eyes,  
is six feet tall exactly, and is standing in front of her now,  
but Moriarty was watching his every move. Holmes took a deep  
breath and sighed. "There are no clues, Lestrade! There is  
absolutely nothing to go on! We are dealing with a master  
criminal here. Even better than Moriarty!" (Holmes couldn't  
resist adding that even at Moriarty's own trade, he was the  
better man.) "What do you want me to do?"  
"But, Holmes! There are always clues! You said so yourself.  
There must be something! You can't give up!!"  
Holmes sighed again. "What am I supposed to do, Lestrade? There  
isn't anything! I was wrong, there aren't always clues." Holmes  
turned around and started walking down the street, leaving  
Lestrade standing there, dumbfounded. He grit his teeth. Holmes  
had left some deliberate clues at the crime scene for Lestrade,  
but she over looked them, and if were to point them out,  
Moriarty would be on him in a second. Or rather, on Lestrade in  
a second. He grit his teeth even harder at his situation.  
Holmes entered his flat and slammed the door in frustration.  
Watson immediately was asking what was wrong, but Holmes  
couldn't answer truthfully. He knew he was bugged, and his every  
movement was being monitored by Moriarty, but he couldn't crush  
the tiny camera out of fear for Lestrade's life. He had a  
meeting with Moriarty tonight, perhaps something will come up  
that Holmes could take advantage of and get out of this mess.  
Then again, he might be forced to a life of crime and slavery  
for the rest of his life. Holmes' sighed once again. Only time  
could tell. 


	3. Midnight Meeting

Holmes walked across the sidewalk to the polluted lake. It was almost pitch black, without a star in the sky, except for the occasional streetlight. He thought deeply about what to do next. There had to be some way to get out of this.  
Holmes walked on, not noticing the sudden chill of the weather.  
When he finally reached the lake, the detective glanced around  
him. There he was, Moriarty within a few yards of him. Holmes  
walked up to his sworn enemy.  
"Ah, glad you could make it, Holmes." The smugness in Moriarty's  
voice made Holmes want to go after him then and there. But he  
restrained himself. All it took was a push of that button, and  
Lestrade would be gone.  
"What do you want tonight, Moriarty?" Holmes was demanding, and  
for the first time in his two lives, showed his anger.  
"The 'Bits and Parts' hardware store. Get these items." Moriarty  
handed Holmes a piece of paper. "And remember Holmes, don't mess  
up. Or else." He fingered the button on the controller in his  
hand. "All it takes is a few seconds, and Lestrade is dead."  
Holmes scowled and reviewed the piece of paper. His mind was  
racing. He had to somehow tell Lestrade. But how? Write a note?  
Moriarty would see him writing it. Use Morse code? Moriarty  
would hear it. If he took the camera off, Moriarty would press  
the button, and the poison Moriarty had placed in Lestrade's  
body would take its effect immediately. All there was left to do  
now was rob the hardware store. But somehow, Holmes would get  
out of this and save Lestrade. Somehow...  
Holmes turned away from the grinning Moriarty and made his way  
to the hardware store. 'This is all for you, Lestrade. It's all  
for you,' Thought Holmes as he expertly snuck into the store. Of  
course, this time he made more obvious clues toward himself. But  
what would happen if Holmes' was in jail? Would Moriarty kill  
Lestrade anyway? Holmes gulped. He took the scraps of metal  
Moriarty put on the list, and made his way out the door, back to  
where Moriarty was standing.  
"If I get caught and put in jail, what happens to Lestrade?"  
Holmes asked Moriarty as he came up with scrap metal in his  
hand.  
Moriarty grinned. "Why, I don't know. Perhaps she shall die.  
Just don't get caught." Moriarty grabbed the scrap metal from  
Holmes' hand and threw it on the ground. His pretended smile  
faded as he pulled out an ionizer and fired a shot in Holmes'  
arm. "You think I'm stupid? I saw you purposefully leaving  
evidence behind!"  
Holmes returned the shot with a perfectly aimed punch into  
Moriarty's face. When Holmes was about to give Moriarty another  
blow, Moriarty reached for the button and put his finger  
dangerously close to it. "Not one more move, my dear Holmes. Go  
home and come back tomorrow at 11. Another stunt like that will  
cost you Lestrade's life."  
Holmes' stumbled into his flat with a sore, bleeding arm. Watson  
came into the room with a concerned look on his face. "My dear  
Holmes! What in the devil happened here??" Watson rushed to  
Holmes and bandaged his arm. "What happened, Holmes? Where were  
you just now?"  
But "Thank you, Watson," was all Holmes would say to him, try as  
he might. When Holmes went to his bedroom, Watson sat alone  
thinking to himself.  
"Something fishy is definitely going on here, and I'm going to  
find out what." Determined, Watson sat up all night pondering  
over all possibilities, but none that Watson thought of were  
likely. 


	4. Notsocareful Criminal

Lestrade examined the 'Bits and Parts' hardware store for any type of clues. Apparently, her criminal hadn't been as careful last night as he had been before. There were footprints in the sand, and he actually left a DNA trace. "Got ya!" Lestrade grinned as she headed towards the yard with her DNA sample. All she had to do was find out who this DNA belonged to, and she would have her criminal.  
Lestrade walked into the Yard with her head held high. She was  
going to crack a case that even the world's greatest detective  
declared impossible. She put the DNA sample into the scanner and  
waited for the analysis. Holmes' picture appeared on the  
computer screen, along with his recently transmitted file.  
Lestrade gasped. "Holmes?! It was Holmes' DNA?! But... but that  
can't be!!" She quickly examined the footprint. "It's the same  
size as Holmes' feet...." Lestrade gulped. She quickly got rid  
of the DNA sample and went back to the hardware store to erase  
any other traces of evidence leading to Holmes. No, he just  
couldn't be the criminal. His whole two lives were dedicated to  
fighting crime!  
Lestrade flew to Holmes' flat, quite faster than she was  
supposed to. She walked up to the front door, not noticing the  
stained blood there from Holmes' arm. Not even bothering to  
knock, Lestrade forced Holmes' front door open and slammed it  
shut again once inside. Watson looked up from studying a cook  
book. "Why, Lestrade! What brings you here?"  
"Where is Holmes?!" Lestrade demanded, her first time yelling at  
poor old Watson.  
"Why, he's still in his room. Hasn't even come out for  
breakfast. He's still in recovery from last night."  
"What happened last night?" Lestrade's hope grew. If Holmes was  
with Watson all night last night, then he couldn't have been the  
robber of the hard ware store.  
"I have no idea. Holmes left here late without an explanation at  
all. Then he came back hours later with a bloody arm and a  
depressed air about him. He wouldn't tell me anything of what  
occurred. You know how secretive he is."  
Lestrade sighed and her hopes dropped to an even lower level  
than she started with. All was black against Holmes, and yet it  
didn't seem possible that he was the guilty party.  
Lestrade pushed past Watson, and burst the door open with a  
sudden surge of energy. Holmes was lying in his bed, still  
dressed in yesterday's clothes, and was thinking deeply about  
something. His arm was wrapped in layers upon layers of  
bandages, making it very hard for him to move it. "Holmes!!!  
What is going on here??!!" Lestrade screamed at him. She shut  
the door behind her as she advanced into his room, leaving poor  
Watson out of the conversation. 


	5. Lies

Lestrade made her way into Holmes' room, still yelling. "What happened last night, Holmes?! Tell me the truth!"  
'Ahh, she must have got the clues I left last night,' Holmes  
thought. But now he didn't want her to find out. Now if she  
knew, Lestrade would be in even greater danger. As much as he  
hated lying, he couldn't tell the truth. "What do you mean,  
Lestrade?" He would put off lying as much as he could.  
"Holmes, the Bits and Parts hardware store was robbed last  
night, and all pieces of evidence... well, they all lead to  
you." Lestrade's voice was quiet now, even shy. Suddenly, a  
surge of energy and will burst through her, and her voice rose.  
"Someone's framing you, aren't they, Holmes? Ohhh, the rascals!  
Wait till I get my hands on them! I'll... I'll...." Lestrade  
trailed off and bit her lip. She had no idea how to handle this.  
Her beloved (that's right, beloved) Holmes might be a criminal!  
The very thing she had been working so hard against! She waited  
for him to agree with her that he had been framed, but he  
didn't.  
"Lestrade..." His soft, soothing voice made her want to break  
into tears. "What sort of 'evidence' did you find?" He still  
wasn't exactly lying.  
Lestrade bit her lip and stared into Holmes' eyes. There was no  
way a cold-hearted criminal could be hiding behind those sweet  
blue eyes of his. "Your DNA was all over the scene...along with  
your footprints and other things."  
Holmes sighed. Now he would have to lie to her. Tell her some  
crazy story. He tried to look her in the eyes as he spoke, but  
couldn't. After reassuring himself that he was actually saving  
Lestrade by lying to her, he began his story. "Well, I was  
there, Lestrade, but I didn't steal anything. I had a feeling  
that the hardware store was the next target, so I went there a  
little after three in the morning. I was to late, however, to  
catch our criminal. He had already been there and stolen things.  
I looked around for clues, but there were none." Holmes had been  
staring at the ground the whole time, but now he lifted his head  
to examine Lestrade's face.  
A mixture of sadness and confusion settled upon Lestrade's  
features, along with a bit of hopelessness. When she finally  
spoke, her voice was barely audible. "How'd you hurt your arm?"  
Holmes looked towards his floor again. "I tripped going out the  
door of the store."  
"May I take a look?"  
Holmes nodded his head. "By all means."  
Lestrade tenderly stripped the bandages off and peered at his  
arm. A look of hurt swelled in her face. Lestrade was no doctor,  
but she had handled ionizers enough to know what an ionizer  
wound looked like. And this was most definitely an ionizer  
wound. There was no way he could have got this from tripping.  
She wrapped his arm back up, still with the same amount of care,  
and looked at Holmes long and hard. He stared back at her, and  
for a few minutes, each was locked into the other one. Finally,  
tears came into Lestrade's eyes, and she broke away and ran out  
of the house.  
Lestrade looked at Holmes' front door in shock. There was a pool  
of blood on it, and Lestrade's scanners verified that it was  
Holmes'. The front door seemed to be the end of a long trail of  
blood. Lestrade followed the trail from end to beginning and  
found herself by the river. She looked at her reflection in the  
water and was surprised to find herself looking so hurt. She  
knelt beside the river and had a deep, long cry, all the while  
thinking, 'He lied to me. Holmes lied to me. Why? Doesn't he  
trust me?'  
Grayson came in on the vid-phone. He failed to see the tear  
streaks on Lestrade's face. "Lestrade, what have you found on  
the 'Bits and Parts' case? Any clues? Suspects?"  
Lestrade swallowed. "No, Chief. No clues or suspects or  
anything. Not even a DNA trace." Without waiting for a response,  
she pressed the 'off' button and the screen went blank. 'Holmes  
wouldn't lie to me unless it was absolutely necessary. I just  
know it. Something is going on here, and I'm going to find out  
what. First thing to do: wire him.' Lestrade made a mental list  
of what she had to do to keep track of Holmes and get to the  
bottom of this. Following her own first step, Lestrade walked  
into a mechanics store and bought a tiny camera. 'Now to just  
plant this on Holmes....' 


	6. The Truth is Uncovered

Lestrade ran into her house, and immediately started hooking up the camera to her computer. Holmes had already been bugged, and now all she had to do was watch from the safety of her home. Finally, Lestrade got the wires in their right places, and a faint picture started to appear on the screen. But only for a few seconds, then it disappeared, and the connection was lost. "Zed!" Lestrade banged her hand on the computer desk. "What is wrong with you? Why won't you work?"  
Then, as if in response to Lestrade's question, a message popped  
up on the screen. 'SIGNAL INTERFERENCE. THIS LINE IS BLOCKED.  
PROBLEM # 204. SEE MANUAL FOR HELP.  
"Line is blocked?" Lestrade repeated in wonder. "By who? Who  
else is tracking Holmes?" Lestrade tapped a few keys on the  
keyboard, and eventually hacked into the other person's line.  
She now sees everything they see, hear everything they hear, and  
find out the same things they find out.  
Lestrade peered into her computer screen and let her mind race.  
'So someone else is keeping track of Holmes. Who could it be?  
Most likely one of his enemies. But I'm not his enemy, and I'm  
tracking him. Someone who cares, then? Could it be Watson?  
Perhaps... but still not likely.' Lestrade sighed and decided to  
just keep focused on what Holmes was doing. Right now, he was  
just sitting down, thinking very hard about something. And that  
was not very exciting to watch.  
Lestrade sat there for hours, spying on Holmes doing just  
normal, everyday stuff. He ate, read the newspaper, talked to  
Watson a bit, and sat in his chair doing nothing but think. Now  
it was 10:00 at night, nothing exciting had happened, and she  
was tired. Lestrade was about to give up and go to bed, when she  
noticed that Holmes had finally moved from his chair. He grabbed  
his Inverness and deerstalker and went out the door.  
Lestrade was immediately snapped away from the dull mood she had  
fallen into, and leaned closer to the screen. Holmes was going  
to the river, following the blood-stained path. When he got  
there, Holmes looked around him, spotted what he was looking  
for, and moved towards that object.  
Lestrade squinted into the screen at the object Holmes was now  
talking to. "Moriarty!" Lestrade gasped. "Holmes is partners  
with Moriarty!? No, that is impossible! Moriarty must have  
cryptnotised him or something!" Lestrade strained her ears to  
hear what they were saying.  
"How was your day today, my dear Holmes? I hope that arm of  
yours didn't hurt too much." Moriarty snickered at his own  
sarcasm. Seeing that Holmes was not about to answer, Moriarty  
continued. "Tonight your target is the Yard. I want you to go  
into the Yard and steal all pieces of evidence of any crime that  
they have been holding. Bring them to me. If you can't get them  
all the first time around, then go a second time. Got it?"  
Holmes gritted his teeth and nodded his head. As he turned to go  
to the Yard, Holmes heard Moriarty yell after him. "Oh, and  
Holmes? No 'evidence' this time. I want a clean robbery, no  
trace of anything. Don't screw this up. Remember, I'm watching  
you. I'll know if you make any attempt to get out of this. One  
wrong move and the poison in Lestrade's body kicks in. Get it?"  
Holmes nodded his head and gritted his teeth. 


	7. Taking a Base of Action

Lestrade gulped. "Poison?" Her mind tried to grasp the concept. "Moriarty  
poisoned me? Then that means that Holmes is doing all this just  
to keep me alive." Lestrade's mouth went dry. He was risking  
everything he lived for to save her. "And what did Moriarty mean  
when he said 'I'm watching you'?" Lestrade gasped in  
realization. "The other camera line! The one I'm hacking into  
right now! It's Moriarty's!" Slowly the pieces of the puzzle  
fell into place, and Lestrade figured out the whole thing. She  
repeated it to herself to make sure it made sense.  
"Moriarty somehow poisoned me, and told Holmes that if he  
doesn't do what he says, I'll die. So Holmes listens to  
Moriarty. Moriarty bugs Holmes so that Holmes can't tell anybody  
or Moriarty will kill me. So Holmes is forced to be Moriarty's  
slave! Because of me!!" Suddenly a pang of guilt shot through  
Lestrade like a bullet. 'What to do next?' Her mind raced.  
'First off, I have to get the poison out of me. I'm not bugged,  
so I can go to a doctor and get it taken out. Then I'll tell  
Holmes what I did, and everything will be all right.' Lestrade's  
plan was so simple, yet so foolproof, that Lestrade was quite  
surprised how fast it had come to her.  
Lestrade bounded out the door, forgetting about her computer  
(which was still displaying Holmes' every move), and went on to  
Dr. Cushing's office. 


	8. Caught

Holmes groaned as he trudged up the steep hill towards New Scotland Yard. 'Is there no end to this?' he thought hopelessly. 'Am I to become one of Moriarty's henchmen forever?' The thought itself was dreadful, but if it meant saving Lestrade's life, then so be it.  
Holmes finally reached New Scotland Yard. He expertly snuck in  
without setting off the alarm and began loading evidence bags.  
He would have to make at least three trips in order to clear the  
whole room of things.  
Just before leaving from the first trip round, Holmes cleared  
every trace of him being there, except for the security tape in  
the far corner of the room. Holmes groaned as he realized how  
high up it it was. He decided to get it his last trip, it might  
be easier that way.  
But as Holmes made his way out the door, one of the bags dropped  
and triggered the alarm. Immediately, the sirens screamed as  
loudly as possible, and the doors started closing. Holmes darted  
out of the Yard, a shutting door barely missing him.  
Gasping for breath after finding a hiding place in the bushes,  
Holmes realized that he hadn't gotten the security tape. All his  
movements had been recorded on that one tape, and now the police  
had surrounded the building and there was no way to get it.  
Holmes groaned. This was how a criminal feels when he knows he  
isn't going to get away with his crime. But one question  
remained on his mind. 'Will Lestrade be killed when I get  
caught?' Holmes groaned again. It seemed video cameras were the  
second evilest thing in New London, next to Moriarty.  
Suddenly a whole gang of officers ran up to where Holmes was  
standing and surrounded him. One of the officers yelled for  
Holmes to put his hands behind his back. Holmes could feel the  
cold metal of the cuffs rub against his skin.  
About ten Yardies got together and dragged him to the Yard,  
though Holmes put up no struggle. 


	9. The Operation

Lestrade opened her eyes to white surroundings. Everything around her was a pure white; the only color in the room was herself and a girl standing above her. "Huh?" Lestrade mumbled, stupefied by what was going around her.  
  
The girl looking down on her spoke in a soft voice. "How are you  
feeling?"  
Lestrade rubbed her head with a low moan. "Where am I?"  
"Don't you remember?"  
Lestrade bolted into a sitting position as the memory came back  
to her. She was in a hospital. She just had surgery to get the  
poison out of her body that Moriarty put in. The girl above her  
was Dr. Cushing, and Holmes was still around committing crimes,  
trying to save her life.  
Everything came back to her in short, choppy sentences, but  
eventually she had the full memory. "Did it work, then?"  
Lestrade asked, referring to the operation that was meant to get  
the poison out.  
Dr. Cushing held up a small test tube in reply. "It's all here,  
Lestrade. If Moriarty presses that button, nothing will happen  
to you. No worries."  
Lestrade grinned. Now to tell Holmes. Even if Moriarty watched  
her tell him on his video camera, there was nothing he could do.  
The poison was gone. "How long have I been out, doctor?"  
Dr. Cushing wrinkled her brows in thought. "Hmmmm... probably  
about four hours."  
"Then what time is it?"  
"Nine in the morning."  
"Any side effects?"  
Dr. Cushing thought for awhile, then answered cheerfully, "Maybe  
a minor headache, but other than that, none."  
"Great! Thank you, Dr. Cushing!" Lestrade handed the doctor a  
thousand credits, and leaped out the door to find Holmes before  
he did anything else. 


	10. Supposed Death

Holmes sat in the cell, his hands bound together, with a worried look on his face. Lestrade had not come into work that morning, so much he had gathered from overhearing Grayson through the vents. Holmes sat on the cot, and banged the back of his head against the wall.  
He was scheduled to be crypnotized at twelve noon today for his  
crimes. 'What happens to Lestrade once I'm crypnotized?' he kept  
wondering. 'Or better yet, what has already happened to her?'  
Holmes shuddered.  
Grayson passed Holmes' cell without even a glance. Holmes called  
out to him. "Chief Inspector!" Grayson turned around with a  
snarl.  
"How could you? After all the Yard has done for you, and you end  
up being the cause for all the worry these past few days!"  
Holmes couldn't say anything. Grayson wasn't himself today. That  
just didn't seem like something Grayson would say on a regular  
day. "Where is Lestrade?" Holmes asked, ignoring the remark  
Grayson had made.  
"Your partner isn't going to bail you out, if that's what you  
want." Grayson sneered.  
"I don't expect her to. I just need to see her." Urgency rang in  
Holmes' voice.  
"Well, I don't know where she's gone off to. She isn't here. Why  
do you want to see her?" Grayson demanded.  
But Holmes went silent in thought. 'Oh, Lestrade!' Tears almost  
came to his eyes. Grayson growled and walked off when he  
realized that Holmes wasn't going to answer. About half an hour  
later, another officer came to his cell. "You're almost next.  
Come with me." The officer open Holmes' cell, grabbed him by the  
arms, and took him to the waiting room to be crypnotized 


	11. Finding Holmes

Lestrade banged on the door of 221b Baker St. She kicked wildly at it, leaving a multitude of little scratch marks on it. "Holmes! Watson! Open up! Now!" Yet nobody answered from inside, leaving her to figure out a way to get in by herself. It didn't take much figuring.  
Lestrade whipped out her ionizer and gave the door a good shot.  
The ancient door finally fell, leaving the inside of Holmes'  
flat completely exposed to any intruder.  
Lestrade walked in and put away her ionizer. "Holmes? Watson?"  
Nobody answered. The house was empty. Lestrade looked at her  
watch with haste. It was 10:30. 'Holmes should be back by now.'  
she thought, becoming worried. 'It doesn't take that long to rob  
the Yard, and even if it did, people would be there now, and  
Holmes wouldn't be able to rob it. He should be here!'  
Lestrade tried to comfort herself by telling herself that Holmes  
was probably called in by New Scotland Yard to solve his own  
crime. Or maybe he went out for a stroll to clear his head.  
Lestrade took a deep breath and was about to go out of the house  
when Dr. Cushing appeared on Holmes vid-phone. "Lestrade!" she  
called out.  
Lestrade spun around, mystified. "How... how did you find me at  
Holmes' house?"  
"Well, I tried your house first, then your portable vid-phone,  
but you didn't answer either of them. So I tried Holmes'. From  
what you told me last night, it wasn't hard to figure out that  
this is where you'd be if not at your own house. So now that  
I've finally reached you, I need to show you this." Dr. Cushing  
held up a test tube, very much like the test tube that she had  
put Lestrade's poison in, but the chemical in this test tube was  
blue and bubbly.  
Lestrade peered at the small tube. "What is it?"  
"The poison." Dr. Cushing's voice rang in Lestrade's ears. "It's  
been activated. Thankfully, it's not in you anymore, but if it  
were..." Dr. Cushing trailed off, leaving Lestrade to fill in  
the blanks for herself.  
But Lestrade no longer thought for her own safety. "Holmes!" she  
exclaimed, her worries rising to an extent Lestrade never  
thought possible. "Something must have happened to him for  
Moriarty to activate the poison! Holmes is in trouble!" Then,  
for an instant, Lestrade wondered if Holmes had given up and  
told Moriarty 'no' to doing a crime and decided to let her die.  
But the thought was soon erased, and she scolded herself for  
thinking such a dreadful thing.  
Lestrade started running for the door when she heard Dr. Cushing  
call after her. "Lestrade, what are you doing?"  
"Finding Holmes!" she answered over her shoulder and bolted out  
of 221b Baker St., leaving Dr. Cushing alone, speechless. 


	12. Cryptnotizing

Holmes watched the hands on the clock move ever so slowly in the waiting room. It was 11:00, an hour before his crypnotizing began. He was the fifth one to be crypnotized in the room. Holmes shut his eyes and breathed hard. Lestrade's life had been taken from her, and now so was his. 'How could Moriarty do such a thing?' Holmes wondered. 'I knew he would ruin my life, but Lestrade's? How can anybody, even Moriarty, be so evil?'  
Holmes sighed, and wished Lestrade hadn't brought him back from  
the dead. 'I was the cause of her death.' he thought. 'If she  
hadn't resurrected me, she wouldn't be dead right now.' Holmes  
shuddered and cursed himself for even living.  
Holmes watched as each man ahead of him went into the  
crypnotizing room evil and came out good, with not a single  
memory of what had happened earlier than that second. Holmes  
realized with a shiver that his life in the 1800's would be  
completely forgotten, and Watson and Lestrade would no longer  
exist in his world. Then Holmes cursed himself again as he  
remembered that Lestrade no longer existed in any world. She was  
gone.  
Finally, it was Holmes' turn to be cryptnotized. A guard shoved  
him into the large room, staying close behind him. The guard  
forced Holmes into the chair, although Holmes was perfectly  
willing to sit down by himself, and strapped Holmes' wrists and  
ankles to it. Finally, he placed the helmet on Holmes' head, and  
took a few steps back.  
The officer then gave a thumbs-up sign to a man's shadow in the  
window of the control room. Holmes could hear twisting of knobs  
and some fiddling with buttons. Finally, the machine roared to  
life and two bright lights ran down the long wires into Holmes'  
helmet. There was a brief yet painful shock as bright lights  
emerged from the machine. The cryptnosis machine let out a puff  
of black smoke to let the officers know it was done.  
The officer peered at the man sitting in the chair ahead of him.  
"Did it work?" he wondered out loud. 


	13. The Reunion

Holmes blinked twice. The bright lights had temporarily blinded him, and the shock he had received still lingered a bit in his joints. But all his memories were still intact.  
"What happened?!" the officer yelled to the one in the room when  
he realized Holmes was still himself.  
"I don't know. Something went wrong." A familiar voice floated  
into Holmes' ears. 'Watson?!' thought Holmes, quite surprised.  
'Watson was behind the controls??' Holmes grinned to himself.  
'Good old Watson. He tampered with the controls to make it the  
cryptnosis machine a failure.' But the thought that Watson would  
not be able to save him forever and Lestrade was already gone  
spoiled Holmes' good mood.  
The officer guarding Holmes now left him, and trudged towards  
the control room. "Here, I'll fix it," the guard called to  
Watson as he dragged himself along.  
This was Holmes' chance. The thought of escaping never crossed  
his mind before because he was so worked up about Lestrade. But  
now he decided it was better to have at least a memory of her,  
if nothing else.  
Holmes expertly wriggled out of the straps attaching him to the  
chair and was about to take off the helmet when Lestrade forced  
the door to the room open. You could never see a look of more  
surprise and happiness than what was on Holmes' face when he saw  
Lestrade. "LESTRADE!?" It was all he could say for the moment.  
"Oh, Holmes!" Lestrade ran toward him from the doorframe.  
Meanwhile, the officer had already fixed the problem when he saw  
Lestrade burst through the door. He had been temporarily  
dumbfounded at the two detectives' reunion, but now came to his  
senses. The officer slammed his hand down on the 'cryptnotize'  
button while Holmes was distracted by Lestrade and still had the  
helmet on.  
Lestrade immediately saw the light coming through wires towards  
Holmes' head. "Holmes!" she called out. Before she could think  
twice, Lestrade yanked the helmet off of his head. The lights  
reached the helmet before Lestrade could put it down, however,  
and Lestrade suffered the same shock Holmes had.  
She dropped the helmet when the machine had let out its puff of  
smoke, and fell into a dead faint.  
Holmes wasn't sure if the machine could erase your memories if  
it just touched your hands, but he sure hoped it didn't. He  
kneeled next to her and grabbed her hand. "Beth?" His voice was  
barely audible. He looked down on her with watery pale blue  
eyes, and his breathing became uneven. Still, Lestrade didn't  
move. 


	14. The Kiss

Lestrade opened her eyes to find Holmes kneeling over her, his hand gently rubbing her face. There was actually a tear drop running down his cheek, and his eyes were full of worry and love. (Yes, LOVE) "Lestrade?" his voice was soft and his warm breath tingled her cheeks. He was leaning really close to her.  
Lestrade gave a low moan and shut her eyes in pain. Holmes  
brought her to a half-sitting position, his arm supporting her  
back. "Are you all right?"  
"Um... Yeah, I...." a sudden silence came over Lestrade as she  
looked into the eyes of her companion. There was something  
there, though she didn't know what, that made her stop dead.  
This was not a time for words.  
They stopped there for a moment, each one motionless, staring  
into the other one's eyes. Then, on a sudden impulse, both  
leaned closer to each other, and their lips locked.  
Harmony fell over the room, and it seemed as if time itself had  
stopped. You could almost hear singing, and the room that had  
held so much dread just moments before now held nothing but the  
sweetness of love. 


	15. Time to Tell All

Holmes got into the passenger side of the hover car with a sigh. His name had finally been cleared, thanks to Lestrade who had persuaded Grayson (with the help of Dr. Cushing) to accept the truth.  
Lestrade got into the driver's seat by him. She took off at a  
surprising speed, (even for Lestrade) and Holmes couldn't help  
but remark that after all they had gone through, they were both  
going to end up dead anyway because Lestrade insisted on seeing  
exactly how recklessly she could drive.  
Lestrade shrugged the comment off, but slowed her speed down a  
bit. After the cruiser had gotten to a steady pace, Holmes  
started a conversation.  
"Lestrade, how did you know you were poisoned in the first  
place?"  
Lestrade grinned. Should she tell him he had been bugged, or  
leave the camera there for future spying? Lestrade finally  
decided to tell all, and the rest of the ride was spent telling  
each other their side of the story. 


	16. The Conclusion

Lestrade dropped Holmes off at his flat, and sped away before he found out what she had done to his flat.  
Holmes didn't even turn glance at his house, instead he stood  
there, watching Lestrade speed down the road, thinking.  
'Moriarty is still out there, already planning his next move. No  
doubt his next plot is more evil and sinister than this one. But  
I'll be ready for him.' Holmes thought, still staring down the  
street. 'Besides, something good came out of all of this. I do  
believe Lestrade and I have a future together.' Holmes didn't  
even scold himself for thinking this, as he would have before.  
Holmes turned toward his flat and gasped. His hand-carved, three  
hundred-year-old, mahogany door had been blasted to pieces,  
leaving the inside of his home unguarded. Holmes looked down and  
saw a couple of footprints. "Lestrade!!!" Perhaps there wasn't a  
future in store for them after all. 


End file.
